One day not too long ago, Vicki Witt put her childhood behind her. It was time. Vicki had grown up in a family of seven children in and around Lansing, Michigan. She had never traveled. Her education was spotty, grabbed on the run as her family moved from one city in Michigan to another. She learned early to look out for herself, as people in large families do. She learned about relationships quickly, too. "I've got the boy-girl thing down," she says with assurance. The fact is, she has more than that: She has Vicki down, which is more than some people can say at 90, much less at 19.

We first heard about Vicki when photographer David Chan spotted her at Michigan State while doing last year's Girls of the Big Ten pictorial. Among the things that attracted us to her was her easygoing style, seasoned with an uncommon amount of common sense. Actually, easygoing is something of an understatement. Vicki could read a book in a burning house. She views life with a cool imperturbability born of an acute sense of her own identity. She knows where she is, adapts to new situations easily and blows you away with her candor. She could also blow you away on a baseball diamond or on a disco floor. Her 5'7" frame is almost pure energy; she's a tomboy, strong and resilient, with a love of sports, from hockey to horseback riding, and she likes nothing better than to dance all night. In the meantime, she puts away enough food to fuel someone twice her size. How she'll eventually use all that energy is still up in the air. Her present plan calls for voice training for a singing career. But she has the looks and personality for the screen, too.

Whatever she does, Vicki is ready. "This is the happiest period of my life. I have a feeling something good is going to happen. The people I'm meeting are exciting and I'm starting to do all the things I've always wanted to."

All of which signals to the girl from Lansing that it's time for her life to begin in earnest.